The Cardinal Rule of Monday Trivia!

We had 13 venues open for Pour House Trivia business and 137 teams showed up to prove their trivia might, including 16 teams playing our final at Aslin Beer Co. in DC!

FIRST ROUND:

Finally, Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson has come back to trivia night, as the opening round started with his title role in the film Black Adam. We also discussed the medical radiologist and the center space on a Scrabble board which features a star and gives the opening player a double word score. However, a Three Clues question about Austria proved to be the hardest way to earn bonus points in this round, as only about 10% of the field knew the country from the first two clues. There were seven perfect scores in this round.

SECOND ROUND:

We got very excited for Monday’s audio clue, which played a trio of songs with exclamation points in the title; about 28% of our teams got bonus points for knowing all three of Word Up! by Cameo, Oops! I Did It Again by Britney Spears, and Bang! by AJR. Midway through this round, we had the game’s most difficult bonus question about the Addams Family. On that one, just 5.1% of teams were able to name either Oscar Issac or Charlize Theron as the respective voices of Gomez and Morticia Addams in the franchise’s 2019 and 2021 animated films. The last question of the round was the most difficult of Monday’s first half:

• The charter for which international organization officially took effect exactly 77 years ago today?

About 63.5% of the field had the right answer of the United Nations, while 18% added bonus points for knowing that charter was signed in San Francisco. The lone perfect score in this round went to Cheddar Biscuits (Mark’s).

HALFTIME:

For the halftime page, teams were asked to name various things with devil in the name, then match song titles featuring question marks to the appropriate musical act (such as What’s the Frequency, Kenneth? to REM). The average score was 16.9 points, and 31 teams recorded a perfect 20-point effort. At the halftime break, these teams were in the lead:

• Cheddar Biscuits (Mark’s): 89
• Pursue This (Bushwaller’s): 87
• Bass Slappers (Il Forno): 86
• That’s So Clavin (Cushwa): 86
• Southpaws (Mark’s): 86
• Prestige Worldwide (William Jeffrey’s): 86

THIRD ROUND:

Topics in Monday’s third round included the rhyming geographic names of Denali, Mali, and Bali, the John James Audubon book The Birds of America, and former ABC drama Nashville. However, the round’s most difficult wagering question again came at the end:

• After a successful career in the Big Ten Conference, which quarterback led the NFL in passing yards seven times during the 21^st century?

Drew Brees was successfully named by 59% of teams, with bonus credit going to 41% which knew he went to Purdue. A game-high 12 teams were perfect here.

FOURTH ROUND:

Almost exactly half of our teams got all six points on Monday’s 6-4-2 about the name Victor. After a Revolutionary trip to Massachusetts to start the fourth round, we got to what was by far the toughest wagering question:

• After dozens of film and television roles, which actor was credited under his Hispanic birth name for the first time while playing a fictitious U.S. President in the action film Machete Kills?

Going by his birth name of Carlos Estevez, that would be the actor with the stage name Charlie Sheen. He was named by about a quarter of the field. We moved on to questions about the hurricane cocktail, scientist Alan Turing, and a three-parter on people named Drake. Perfect scores in this round were earned by 11 teams. A massive second-place tie was featured on the leaderboard going into the final question:

• That’s So Clavin (Cushwa): 164
• Prestige Worldwide (William Jeffrey’s): 161
• Gong Gong and the Butt Demons (Cushwa): 161
• Fart of the Deal (Ragtime): 161
• Santos L Halper (Ragtime): 161
• George Washington’s Camel (DRP): 161
• Cobra Kai (DRP): 161

FINAL QUESTION (38.7% success rate):

• Excluding New York, which city has hosted the most MLB World Series games in baseball history?

Another final question in the high-30s in success rate, this time with a final correct answer of St. Louis. Unfortunately, we struck out on all Perfect 21 attempts on Monday, with no team able to get all 21 wagering questions right. A few scores in the 170s spotlighted the top of the final standings:

• That’s So Clavin (Cushwa): 176
• Fart of the Deal (Ragtime): 173
• Legalized Gambling (DRP): 171
• Just Guessing (DRP): 171
• Underdogs (DRP): 169
• Four Idiots Walk Into A Bar (Bushwaller’s): 168
• Killer Snails (Quincy’s): 167
• Brain Freeze (Quincy’s): 166
• Lowered Expectations (Quincy’s): 165
• Periodically Under the Table (Cushwa): 164

MONDAY’S WINNERS:

Ellie’s Pub in Winchester, VA: Capybaras  (NO GAME NEXT WEEK — FIRST CATEGORY ON NOV. 7: Cockney Rhyming Slang)

Cushwa Brewing in Williamsport, MD: That’s So Clavin  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: David Bowie)

DRP in Alexandria, VA: Legalized Gambling  (NO GAME NEXT WEEK — FIRST CATEGORY ON NOV. 7: Italian Food)

Bushwaller’s in Frederick, MD: Four Idiots Walk Into a Bar  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Minor Family Guy Characters)

Rockwell Brewery in Frederick, MD: Close Encounters  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Accounting)

Mark’s Pub in Falls Church, VA: Southpaws  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown)

William Jeffrey’s Tavern in Arlington, VA: Ryno  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: #1 Hits of the 1970s)

Ragtime in Arlington, VA: Fart of the Deal  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Clive Barker) 

Aslin Beer Co in Herndon, VA: Pimps Don’t Cry  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: The Other Guys)

Quincy’s Bar and Grille in Gaithersburg, MD: Killer Snails  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown)

Il Forno Pizzeria in Frederick, MD: Bass Slappers  (NO GAME NEXT WEEK — FIRST CATEGORY ON NOV. 7: Famous Men Named Tony)